Recently, I checked the contents of a box that had followed me unopened during house moves for more than thirty years.

I had the surprise of rediscovering a tester I had designed and built more than 35 years ago, when I was an enthusiastic but penniless 16 yo. teenager.

I plugged it in, not too hopeful, but miracle: the thing woke up, albeit with some difficulty at first, and made the familiar noises.
I tried it on a transistor, and bingo! it was still working after more than 30yrs inactivity!

This tester was capable of automatically identifying the pinout of any transistor, its polarity, material Ge or Si, and even gave a quality indication level (useful mainly for Ge transistors).

Due to my very scarce resources at the time, it was built mainly with salvaged parts from old TV sets and from unidentified rejects grab-bags sold by weight in Tottenham court road and Edgware road.
I even rewound the relays (all are different!) and the mains transformer myself.

The case is made of two cigarillo's boxes glued together, courtesy of a chain-smoker neighbor, and the front panel is also the lid of a transparent cigar box.
It is miraculous to have found this remnant of the past intact: practically all my other projects from that time (and there were many) have been lent and lost, given, recycled or dispersed in some way.